Ashley Graham is the highest-earning model in the world

Ashley Graham, the 30-year-old American model on track to becoming the first plus-size “supermodel”, was the 10th highest-earning model of 2017. Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest paid models is hardly ever a surprise.

According to Forbes, she made $5.5 million last year. The magazine attributed her success and her dough to building her own audience via social media, instead of waiting for the fashion industry to take notice. With social media fame and hard work, she’s scored campaigns with H&M and Lane Bryant, along with design collabs by Swimsuits for All, Addition Elle and Dressbarn.

Graham recently launched her swimsuit collection, which has ‘a little sexy something for everybody’. Her swimsuits are designed keeping the size of the average American woman in mind.

Back in 2016, she was the first size 14 model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustratedmagazine.

Despite her success as a plus-size model within the “standard-sized” industry showing a real shift in cultural norms, to insiders such as Griffiths who have been fighting the fight for 30 years, her accomplishment feels relatively slow.